Page 141 of The Revenge Plan (Forbidden Descendants 1)

Arching an eyebrow, he studied the page a moment before asking, “Who’s Cason?”

“He’s a boy at the preschool,” I explained. “One of my favorite students, actually. He’s just the sweetest thing. He handed this to me without saying a word, then blushed and ran off.”

“Interesting proposal,” Wick mused as he turned his face to the side, squinting at the picture. “Why are you guys standing on a dog, though?”

I turned the sheet to look at it again. The words, I love you, Miss Haven. Will you marry me? From Cason, still made me grin. Then I focused on the actual drawing.

“That’s a horse,” I cried. “We’re supposed to be riding off into the sunset together.”

“Ahh,” Wick murmured, nodding. “Small horse, but yeah, that makes more sense.”

When Bingley jumped on the drawing and tried to attack it again with her claws, I laughed and dug through my sack of purchases to find a fuzzy cat toy with a bell on it for her to play with instead.

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nbsp; Wick waited until we were back on the road before he asked, “So… How’d you answer Cason?”

“Oh, I told him yes, of course.”

“Really?” He zipped his face over to look at me, the paleness of his eyes making a spot in the pit of my stomach swirl like crazy.

I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, no. I told him to wait twenty years and then ask again. But I’m banking on the possibility he’ll lose interest by then. Because honestly,” I set my hand against my heart and fluttered my lashes. “I’m not sure how I could marry Cason when I’m holding out for Hopeless Henry.”

Wick wrinkled his brow in absolute confusion. “Hopeless Who?”

My mouth fell open. “No. No way! You haven’t heard of ‘Hopeless Henry’? How is that even possible?”

“Um… Sorry. Should I have heard of him?”

“Yes! He’s only the most awesome book character ever. I mean, not like a book, book, though I hope it does come out as a book someday. That would be super awesome. I’d buy it in ebook, paperback, hardback, audio, and every other version it was published in. But right now, the University Gazette only releases a chapter at a time, and only on their online issue.”

“Ah. That’s probably why I’ve never heard of it. I only read their physical paper.”

“Huh. You know, I bet a lot of people miss out on him because of that very reason, which is such a shame. I just love Henry. I know he’s only a fictional person, but I swear that poor, lost man is my soulmate.”

“And his name’s Hopeless Henry?” As we neared our apartment, Wick began to search for a place to park.

“‘Hopeless Henry’ is the name of the entire story,” I said. “His name’s just Henry.” As Wick found a spot half a block from our complex, I dangled the toy in front of Bingley, causing her to leap up for it. “He’s a tuba player in his college marching band.”

Wick blurted out a laugh. “A tuba player. Seriously? You’re in love with a tuba player? I don’t even know which instrument the tuba is. It’s that long one with the slide thing that comes way out, right?”

I sent him an incredulous glance. “That’s the trombone.”

“Oh” He winced over his blunder. “Is it the really round one then?”

Wow, he totally did not know his brass instruments. “You mean, the French horn?” I asked. “No. The tuba is the big one that’s more oval-shaped, like…”

When he shook his head as if he were trying to follow along but was still lost, I stopped talking and sighed. “Here.” Pulling my phone from my purse, which Bingley thought was a toy too, I looked up tuba and then spun to show him the screen as soon as I found a picture. “This is a tuba. Except, yeah, I guess some tubas used in marching bands are more circular like a French horn…like this one. I bet this is the kind Henry plays.”

When I sighed dreamily, trying to picture my Henry holding such an instrument, Wick leaned across the seat, studying the screen, and his scent wafted past. Damn, he smelled good.

“Okay,” he murmured, squinting at my phone. “I got it now. They’re the really low-pitched ones. I love how those things sound.”

I tipped my head to the side, studying him from a new angle and breathing him as deeply as I could.

“You are so refreshing,” I murmured without meaning to.

Then I froze because, oh shit, what if he figured out I’d been sniffing him and thought that’s what I was talking about, even though, okay, he did smell refreshing.

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